Wishing For A Punch In The Nose

The dire warnings that House Leader John Boehner has issued over the Home Land Security funding makes one wonder what are GOP leaders thinking. With control of both Houses, the GOP has the keys to the legislative branch and the opportunity to put to rest claims that Republicans do not know how to run the government, they only know how to say “no”. Events unfolding now, however, suggest the latter.

The GOP can rightly be upset that President Obama has through executive orders taken steps to reform the immigration situation. The President’s actions represents a lost opportunity for Republicans. It seems they could not agree on steps or even to work with the already passed Senate Immigration reform version.

I guess there logic is, “if the House can’t agree, then there will be no reform”. Hmmm.

So here comes the surrogate issue, funding Home Land Security. Republicans in the House passed a funding bill which excluded funds for those parts of Home Land Security which would play a role in carrying out President Obama’s orders. Pretty slick, they had the President over a barrel. Not quite.

Senate Democrats have blocked action on this House bill utilizing the Senate filibuster provision. Boehner is up in arms about the “Senate not doing its job”. What is the good speaker smoking?

If the Senate were in some way to get to vote on the House bill, most likely it would pass and go onto the President for his signature. Instead of a signature, the bill would get a veto. And there is insufficient votes in the Senate to override the veto.

This is not new news. Everyone with a pulse knows this. The President will demand a “clean” bill funding Home Land Security and lacking that someone needs to blink.

It is a shame that this issue has come to game of chicken. Far more appropriate would have been to pass a clean bill and wait for 2016 when a Republican super majority might be elected.

I wonder what Jeb Bush or other GOP Presidential hopefuls are thinking. What a platform to run on. “True my party shut down government once more and turned their backs on Hispanics, but with me (_______________ fill in the name), I will be different.”